


Vows

by TenRoseForeverandever



Series: Domestic Bliss [9]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff without Plot, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-07
Updated: 2014-08-07
Packaged: 2018-02-12 05:26:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2097348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenRoseForeverandever/pseuds/TenRoseForeverandever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor and Rose are not allowed to leave a planet unless they are married.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vows

**Author's Note:**

> My ninth in my Domestic Bliss series, from a prompt from my son, "marriage". This prompt helped to break me out of a dreadful period of writer's block... a bit.  
> This one is short and sweet and I hope you enjoy.

**Vows**

“So, does this mean we’re married, Doctor? Really married?” Rose trotted along behind the Doctor, who strode out before her, his long coat billowing. “Doctor?” she raised her voice, and tugged on his sleeve as she caught up to him.

He tried to ignore her increasingly insistent attempts to gain his attention, but as her voice grew more demanding, he whirled around angrily in protest. “Rose, forget it! It doesn’t mean anything!” The curt words erupted from his lips, and he felt a glower curl across his brow. Her expression instantly transformed from one of hopeful curiosity to one of shocked disappointment and hurt, and she shrank back when he locked onto her eyes with his fierce gaze.

“Look, Rose,” he ran a hand through his hair in exasperation, suddenly feeling contrite about his outburst, “we needed a way to get off this planet, and the only way they would let us leave was if we were married in their eyes. Okay?”

“Yeah, sure… Yeah.” Her voice sounded small as she averted her eyes and nibbled nervously at her thumb. Her eyes remained downcast as they continued to walk back to the TARDIS in uncomfortable silence.

He looked down at her and felt his hearts swell with love for the resilient, little human: love that was impossible; love that he could never acknowledge because he would live on, alone, far beyond her brief existence. It would hurt terribly to watch her wither before him and to lose her in the end. But how much worse the pain would be if he allowed himself to indulge in her charms and permit himself to feel the love fully, to live with her as–

“You been married before, then?” her voice broke through his thoughts.

“Oh, a few times, yeah.” He stared her, willing her to look at him, but she never took her eyes from the ground.

“Oh…” Hushed tension filled the space between them for several minutes, then: “And did any of _those_ marriages mean anything?”

“Not really. Weeeell, when I say not really, I suppose my first marriage meant something… to my family: a matter of political gain. I suppose that’s meaningful to some people. And the rest… well they were situations similar to this one: marriage or certain death.”

“Yeah, thought it would be something like that.”

“Rose…”

“Yeah?”

He gently slipped his hand into hers, and gave a reassuring squeeze. He felt a sigh of relief blossom from his chest when she squeezed back.

“The vows …,” she murmured a few minutes later, “…they were beautiful...” Her head was turned away from him now, and the breeze blew her hair across her face.

When he didn’t respond, she continued. “W’at were the words? Um… ‘I promise to protect and cherish you forever’… or somethin’ like that.”

“‘I promise to protect you and cherish you until the end of time.’”

“That’s it! Beautiful, yeah.” She turned to face him, brushing her hair behind her ear, a tentative smile parting her lips. “These people, they seem so violent but… those weddin’ vows were so… full of love. Though, I s’pose, when the woman doesn’t get a say in it… Says a lot about the society, that she just has to accept the vows or be put to death. Then again, who wouldn’t accept vows like those?”

He huffed through his nose, and dropped her hand, resolutely looking directly ahead as he walked. He stuffed his hands deep into his trouser pockets. “Not all the vows are so… innocuous, Rose. Most speak of servitude and subjugation, and weeell… all that that entails.” He ruffled his hair again. “You’re just lucky, Rose Tyler, that you married the only decent bloke on the planet.”

“Well, given the choice between you or certain death, I s’pose I could’ve done worse.”

“Oi!” He wheeled around at her statement, walking backwards so he could indulge in the cheeky smirk that lit her face. “Who else would have written vows like that for you, you ungrateful little ape?” He gasped internally at the words he had just slipped past his lips ( _bloody, non-stop gob_ ,) and quickly turned away from her again, forcing an impassive expression over his features.

“Wait! W’at d’you jus’ say?”

He strode along purposefully, hoping she would let the subject drop, but not believing for a second that she would: this was Rose, after all, and she was nothing if not persistent. The TARDIS was just ahead: if he could just make it through those blessed blue doors, he could disappear somewhere beneath the console and keep busy for hours, and she would know to not press him. But out here, in the open, just the two of them, and no diversions… blimey!

She apprehended him a few strides from the security of the TARDIS, grabbing at his sleeve again. “You _wrote_ those vows. I thought it was some kind of… I dunno… script… So, _that’s_ why it didn’t seem quite–”

“Look, Rose, we need to get off this planet before… well…” He gestured absently in the direction they had come from.

She ignored his frankly pathetic attempt to deflect her attention, and pulled him firmly around to face her, unbalancing them both. His arms flew to her waist to steady them, and she placed her hands on his biceps, gently caressing through the thick material of his coat. She looked up into his eyes. “You could have said anything, Doctor, for your vows. You could have chosen to use _their_ words and I would have gone along with it. You know that. But instead you said… you composed that beautiful thing… and, well, that… that means somethin’ to me. And I don’t care w’at you say, I think it means somethin’ to you, too.” Her eyes were alight with earnest sincerity, and he found himself breathless and unable to look away. Impulsively, he encircled her with his arms, clutching her to him in a desperate embrace. His hands splayed across her back, fingers kneading her flesh through her T-shirt, an urgent, mute attempt to convey the immensity of what he was feeling.

They pulled away from the hug many long, wonderful minutes later, and smiling, she leaned in to place a small, tender kiss at the corner of his lips. “Doctor, sometimes you are _so_ daft!” she chided playfully as she skipped through the TARDIS doors.

He watched her from the threshold, unable to deny the love that filled him, and no longer sure that he wanted to deny it. “ _I promise to protect you and cherish you until the end of time,_ ” he silently repeated his vows to her, like a mantra in his mind, as he closed the doors behind him. Catching her eye, he beamed at her and spoke aloud, “So, where to next, Rose Tyler?”


End file.
